Officer Faces Court-Martial for Refusing to Deploy to Iraq

Posted on Jul 23, 2006

AP / Ted S. Warren

U.S. Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada was applauded when he arrived to speak to the media and supporters, Wednesday, June 7, in Tacoma, Wash. Watada said he feels the Iraq war is illegal and immoral and is refusing to deploy when his Army brigade, stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., leaves for Iraq later this month.

First Lt. Ehren K. Watada is one of only a handful of officers who have taken such a stand, and is apparently the first to face a court-martial for doing so. He wrote: “I am wholeheartedly opposed to the continued war in Iraq, the deception used to wage this war, and the lawlessness that has pervaded every aspect of our civilian leadership….”

N.Y. Times:

When First Lt. Ehren K. Watada of the Army shipped out for a tour of duty in South Korea two years ago, he was a promising young officer rated among the best by his superiors. Like many young men after Sept. 11, he had volunteered ?out of a desire to protect our country,? he said, even paying $800 for a medical test to prove he qualified despite childhood asthma.

Now Lieutenant Watada, 28, is working behind a desk at Fort Lewis just south of Seattle, one of only a handful of Army officers who have refused to serve in Iraq, an Army spokesman said, and apparently the first facing the prospect of a court-martial for doing so.

?I was still willing to go until I started reading,? Lieutenant Watada said in an interview one recent evening.

A long and deliberate buildup led to Lieutenant Watada?s decision to refuse deployment to Iraq. He reached out to antiwar groups, and they, in turn, embraced his cause, raising money

Lt. Ehren K. Watada has demonstrated the highest level of ethics and is a credit to each of us.

To an earlier commenter who believes that putting on the uniform and swearing to serve “right or wrong” has got it quite terribly wrong…; read your history; specifically read about the last World War, the Nuremberg Trial findings, and any number of human rights laws to which the US is legally bound. “I was just following orders” didn’t wash in the 40s, it doesn’t wash now, and it won’t wash in the future.

Hey there Jonathon… how about you cool the hysterical jingoism a minute.

Swearing an oath to serve, to me, means swearing an oath to serve my country when an INTELLIGENT, REASONABLE, FEASIBLE and MORAL request is made of me by an INTELLIGENT, REASONABLE and MORAL “authority.”

It DOES NOT mean I am to disconnect my BRAIN and follow orders no matter what like some stupid robot. And if you think it does, then YOU TOO are one of those STUPID ROBOTS. Please go to the front lines and get yourself killed in my place. I’ll help your surviving kin nail your Medal for Stupidity on your coffin.

Did it ever occur to you that if EVERYONE stopped using shit for brains and refused to go and stand where they could get shot, THERE WOULD BE NO MORE WAR?

More officers and enlisted need to take a stand against W’s madness. Clearly the Constitution is in need of defense from W, and Watada’s action does that.

And a note to Mr. Wright who wrote: “...when you joined the army you swore an oath to serve this country no matter what. right or wrong in your eyes, it is whats best for your country…”

Obviously Mr. Wright never served this country or he’d know that you pledge to defend the Constitution. You don’t pledge to serve “no matter what. right or wrong in your eyes…” Only the SS would follow such goosestepping, marching orders.

There are rules to how you fight a war. Even Rommel knew this when he tore up Hitler’s order to slaughter prisoners. Watada’s actions show that our American service men are a cut of cloth above the SS and can and should think for themselves.

So, good for Watada and too bad for Mr. Wright who can’t take the risk of thinking for himself.

Hopefully, the Army filters morons like Mr. Wright from service. Otherwise, our armed forces will continue to fall to dishonor and disgrace Gitmo style.

(Thankfully, the submarine service wouldn’t let a nut like that on a nuke boat.)

first of all when you joined the army you swore an oath to serve this country no matter what. right or wrong in your eyes, it is whats best for your country. but i guess you dont really care about that to much cuz your not even a fucking american so get the hell out of this country if you dont want to stand up and fight for her.
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The first things I start looking for from people who spew this type venom are:

Have you served?

If not, why not?

Have you ever been in combat if you served?

If you can’t respond to those type questions in the affirmative, then you have not right to judge someone who DID join to serve. Keep in mind that agreeing to serve, does not mean an agreement to slaughter innocent people. Lt Calley found that out the hard way! By the way, the enlistment oath does not say I agree to serve the country “not matter what…right or wrong.” A number of people at the Nurnberg trials also found that out the hard way.

We should praise this guy for his courage to point out the lies of this administration. Again, Iraq had nothing to do with 911… I know there are more of our military folks that feel this way, but few are willing to come out and express their feelings or act on it…

It’s easy for these politicians to call people (un-patriotic) or cowards, but keep in mind that most if not all these talking heads have never fought in a war or prior military. Yes, he did take a oath…and i guess he should have never researched the war, and should have just blindly taken orders to kill innocent women and children, and a country that had nothing to do with 911.

first of all when you joined the army you swore an oath to serve this country no matter what. right or wrong in your eyes, it is whats best for your country. but i guess you dont really care about that to much cuz your not even a fucking american so get the hell out of this country if you dont want to stand up and fight for her.

He, of course, deserves a medal. What he’s doing takes one helluva lot more courage and intelligence than it takes to ship out as ordered by those placed in authority over him.

What he’s going to get, however, is the shaft. Military mentalities like those in control of the USA are completely incapable of tolerating those who choose to think for themselves and act accordingly. Jeez just think what might happen to their power if everyone starts pointing out that the Emperor Has No Clothes and refuses to be led down the garden path of insanity! The “authorities” would rather put a bullet in his head than allow him the freedom to make his own choices in life.

And that, in a nutshell, is the fallacy and fantasy of freedom - American style. In the USA you are free to say only so much and free to do even less. It may be that many are less free elsewhere, but it’s a LIE that the USA is the Land of the Free.

Always remember, folks, YOU MAKE A FUNDAMENTAL ERROR WHEN YOU ASSUME THAT THOSE IN AUTHORITY OVER YOU KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY ARE DOING. (And it follows in my mind that to risk my life following the orders of those who haven’t a clue what they’re doing is just plain STUPID.)

I wish Watada the best. If I were him I’d be making plans to live the rest of my life as far away from the USA as I could get, and he’d better make his break for REAL freedom now before they lock him up and throw away the key.

It took a lot of guts to do this. I hope that his actions will encourage many more to stand up against those that have misled our country, and also encourge our military leadership to speak out against this administrations failed leadership, before our military is completely decimated by their incompetance.